Coming to Terms
by TheCheat151
Summary: A new mutant has just shown up at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, but she's definitely no stranger to the place. Is blood thicker than water when it comes to choosing sides in a war?
1. An Unexpected Arrival

**Coming to Terms**

_**"**There is no good and evil-  
There is only power, and those too weak to seek it..."  
[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone]_

**Summary: **A new mutant has just shown up at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, but she's definitely no stranger to the place. Is blood thicker than water when it comes to choosing sides in a war?

**Author's Note: ** Alright, I must admit that this is my first story in the X-men fandom, though not in fanfic in general. This is just a little thing that's been sitting around my computer for awhile collecting dust while I attempted to muster up the courage to post it. At present it's just a beginning, but if all goes well I'd like to add a middle and an end. Feedback is, of course, always appreciated. I would very much like to hear your thoughts and even criticisms, as I have no idea what to expect writing in an area other than my usual. So please read, review, and hopefully enjoy!

* * *

**An Unexpected Arrival**

Coming to a stop along the side of the road, Sophia Lehnsherr opened the door to her car and stepped out. Turning around, the sight of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters loomed before her, and she was instantly filled with a feeling of contentment – the feeling that she was home. Long gone were the days when she had carelessly roamed the halls with Jean and Scott by her side as some of the Professor's first students. Since then she had moved on past the safety the school's iron gates had once offered and out into the real world. And though she had always intended to come back, Sophie silently wished she could be returning for any reason other than the one that brought her there.

Shaking her head slightly, she walked to the gates of the grounds, expecting to find them unlocked, and was surprised when she found them closed fast. _Hmm, that's strange, _she murmured silently to herself and without a second thought, raised a hand, forced them open, then stepped onto the mansion lawn closing the gates behind her.

Back in the mansion, Rogue sat looking out one of the rec room windows. As she stared off into the distance, she noticed someone walking towards the house, someone she definitely did not recognize. Immediately she ran to find someone to tell. Sprinting down the hall making for the Professor's office, Rogue was almost knocked completely backward when she ran right smack into Logan.

"Whoa kid! What's gotten into you?" Logan asked with a laugh as he grabbed her arm to keep her from falling over.

"Logan, there's someone coming towards the mansion," Rogue replied as she struggled to catch her breath.

"Where at?"

"The front door."

Without a response, Wolverine ran back to the foyer, locked the door, and waited.

Sophia was again surprised upon finding the front door locked. _This sure is some one hell of a welcome home, _she thought with a sigh of annoyance. After a moment's consideration however, she decided it must have something to do with recent mutant legislation. Shrugging, but still not worried, she unlocked the door and opened it. Stepping inside she looked around, taking everything in. Charles' school was exactly as it had been when she had been a student many years ago. Unfortunately, her trip down memory was cut short when she soon became aware of a powerful metallic force somewhere close to her, and turned to find Wolverine staring at her with contempt. Her first thought, after giving him the "once over," was that the man standing in front of her wasn't too bad on the eyes. After all, she had always been a fan of the rugged, dangerous look. Sophia soon changed her opinion of him though, when she caught the nasty glare he was giving her.

"Who the hell are you?" Wolverine quetioned her in a threatening voice.

With a single raised an eyebrow, she paused a moment before answering and shot him a menacing smile. She had been raised by one of the most powerful mutants on the earth, and trained by another, just who did this guy think he was.

"Excuse me?" she asked with complete demeanor.

"You heard me. Who are you?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business."

"Yeah, well I'm making it my business," he sneered as metal claws shot from the back of his hands.

_Tsk__ tsk_. "I don't think so," she replied with a smirk, raising her hand and trapping him in a magnetic field. Stepping toward him, she forced his arms down by his side as she approached. Just as she was almost to him, she pushed him aside with the turn of her hand and gave a quick wink as she passed. Keeping Logan within her control, she walked to the steps, but before she had the chance to take even one step up, she heard someone yelling her name.

"SOPHIA!" the cry sounded as someone ran down the upstairs hallway and pounded down the stairs.

"Hey kiddo," she greeted Bobby Drake as he flung himself at her in a hug. "Did you miss me?"

"You have no idea."

Off to the side, Rogue and Wolverine exchanged a look over this newcomer.

"Alright Bobby," Sophie laughed peeling him off of her. "As much as I want to hear everything about your stay here at school, there are a few things I need to take care of first. I'll come find you after I'm done."

"Ok, see you later."

Bobby headed off in Rogue's direction allowing Sophia to continue her ascent. At the top of the stairs stood Cyclops, who was waiting to greet her "Sophia."

"Scott."

"Welcome home," he said with a quick hug, taking her by the arm.

As they turned down the hall toward the Professor's office, Sophia looked down over the railing and released Logan from her grip. "It seems the Professor's hospitality has lessened as of late."

"Oh, don't mind him. He's just the new guy."

* * *

When Logan had heard Rogue's news, he quickly sprinted to the front of the house to head off whoever was approaching, and locked the door, although he guessed that it was likely it wouldn't really stop anything. He was right, the mutant outside had the power to open the door, and did. Standind still, he watched as a woman stepped into the house, and without noticing him looked around as though she had been there before. Still, Logan would take no chances. The woman eventually seemed to notice he was standing there watching her, and she turned to face him. Logan was stunned, she was beautiful. Long curly blonde hair and bright grey eyes, for a single fleeting moment he could not even remember Jean's name. Quickly though, before getting too off track, he collected himself and asked her who she was.

What happened next did not go exactly as Logan had hoped it would. Instead of preventing the stranger from entering the house, he found himself bound by some force that emanated from her. Unable to move, Logan was forced to watch everything without being able to act. Over head, he saw Iceman running down the hall and then down the stairs. He jumped at the new mutant, giving her a huge hug, and Logan shot Rogue a questioning look. After talking to Bobby for a minute, Sophia, as she seemed to be called, made her way up the stairs. She greeted Scott as though she had known him for years, and the two went off to find the professor. After being released from her grip, Logan scoffed audibly when he heard Cyclops address him as "the new guy" to someone who had just waltzed in off the street.

"Who was that?" Wolverine growled at Bobby who was now standing off to the side talking to Rogue.

"That's Sophia. She's a mutant too."

"Yeah I kinda gathered that. How bout telling me something I don't already know."

"She used to go to school here, then she went to college and law school. Now she's like the country's leading attorney in mutant law," he answered with pride.

"How do you know her?" Rogue interjected suspiciously.

"Oh, umm, she used to baby-sit my brother and I when we were younger. Actually, it was kind of set up by the professor to help me make the transition to come to school here."

"Transition?" Logan asked skeptically.

"Well you know how the Professor tries to help out young mutants by bringing them here. When it came to me, he knew my parents were really conservative so he sent Sophia to watch us for a few years so I'd have someone to turn to when my abilities showed. She's really great at training people to use their powers."

"What's does she do?"

"She can manipulate metal. Couldn't you tell?"

"Manipulates metal? What, you mean like Magneto?"

"Umm, yeah something like that I guess, I don't really know," Iceman stammered in reply.

Somewhat satisfied with the information he had managed to get from Bobby, Logan let the two younger mutants go on their way without any further questions. He himself continued to stand in the foyer, evaluating everything he had just learned.

After some time, he saw the professor and the new girl making their way down the stairs. Logan marveled at the fact that the professor seemed to be allowing Sophia to float him down the stairs by holding his hand. This action seemed to require a certain amount of trust that he had never even seen Charles extend to Jean.

"Sophia, this is Logan."

"Ah, the welcoming committee. Yes, we've already met."

Logan was not amused with her little remark. "What, are you two related or something?"

"You could say that," was her short reply.

In order to avoid a conflict between the two of them, the professor interrupted and offered and explanation. "Sophia is the niece of one of my closest friends. I've known her almost since birth."

"Well then Sophia, it's nice to meet you," Logan replied smartly, and with that he turned on his heel and was gone.

"You'll have to excuse Logan my dear. He's a bit rough around the edges. Although I'm sure that won't bother you too much," Xavier added with a slight grin.

"I'm sure it won't," Sophie replied as she watched Wolverine's figure receding down the hallway.


	2. Settling In

**Settling In**

Adjusting. It was almost second nature to Sophia by now, she had done it so many times. And this time was no different than the others, save for one thing – Logan. Logan the loner, Logan of few words, Logan full of silent anger, Logan the smartass, Logan who was neither fully human nor fully animal, and Logan who irritated her beyond belief. She had tried to put her finger on exactly what it was about it that drove her absolutely mad, but every time she came up empty handed. In the end she decided it was EVERYTHING about him.

Here she was, back at home, feeling as though she had to justify her very existence to some stranger who, as far as she was concerned, had just wandered in off the street. She, who had known the Professor longer than anyone, even called him "uncle", found Logan's condescending attitude insulting, to say the least. This was HER home, she knew it, the Professor knew it, Orora, Scott, and Jean knew it, and even some of the older students knew it. So who was he to treat her like some outsider who didn't belong.

Pacing the length of her room in disgust, Sophia decided it was time to finally get herself unpacked. It was already her fifth day back at Xavier's and her bedroom was still full of boxes, some opened and half empty and others still untouched. Surveying the room from a standstill, she sighed heavily and shrugged her shoulders.

"You always were such a procrastinator," a voice spoke from behind her, causing Sophia to turn with a start.

Standing in the doorway, one shoulder leaning against the frame, Jean laughed at her friend.

"Well you might lend a hand instead of sitting there and smirking over it," Sophia shot back before turning her attention back to the mess in front of her.

"I wouldn't have thought you needed any help seeing as how you have everything rigged up for easy moving," Jean replied, picking up a hairbrush from a nearby box and turning it over to reveal a thin strip of metal along the handle. "Honestly Sophia, you are so lazy."

"You call it lazy, I call it resourceful," was her response as she held up a hand and the brush flew from Jean's grip. "You know, I'm kinda surprised to be in my old room again, I figured you and Scott would have snatched it up right away."

"And we would have too if we had been allowed."  
At Jean's answer, Sophie turned around and shot her a questioning look.

"Oh, don't give me that look," Jean laughed throwing a small lamp across the room at her friend. Before it got far, Sophia had it in her grip and landed it gracefully on her desk. "You know as well as I that the Professor would never allow anyone to move in here, not in his precious Sophia's room," Jean continued with an eye-roll. "Scott and I didn't even bother to ask, although Logan did once," she added with a smirk.

At this Sophia scowled, "He would! Arrogant son-of-a-bitch," she added under her breath.

"Oh, come on, he's not that bad," Jean made a half-hearted defense.

"That's easy for you to say, the man's practically falling to pieces over you. As far as I'm concerned he's a condescending jerk who needs to learn his place or get out of my house."

"Your house? Awfully possessive aren't we, seeing as you haven't been here in how many years."

"Oh here we go with the guilt trip again. Whose side are you on anyway?"

"No one's, I just think you should give Logan a chance before you completely write him off. You do tend to be awfully judgmental sometimes."

"Maybe you need some time away from here. You're starting to sound awfully like Charles. I'm half expecting you to start reciting proverbs to me."

"Well just remember, most often the things we dislike in others are the very things we dislike in ourselves," Jean smarted with a grin.

"Oooooh shut up will you," Sophia yelled back. "If you can't keep your words of wisdom to yourself, I'm going to have to ask you to step out of my room," she added, trying to sound as serious as possible.

"What's going on in here?" A third voice added itself to their conversation as Scott poked his head into the open door to Sophia's room.

"Sophia doesn't like Logan," Jean answered matter-of-factly.

"Oh great!" Scott's face lit up. "You can join my club. I'll even let you be vice president."

"Why do I think that we're the only two members," Sophia asked with raised eyebrows.

"Because you are," Jean retorted.

"Ahh. Well how much are dues."

"Well, since you're the first official member, I'd say…"

"Oh, you two are worse than children," Jean cut him off standing up. "Just give him a chance will you," she went on, turning back to Sophia. "He's really not that bad once you get used to him."  
Over her shoulder Scott cast Sophia a look that showed he cleared disagreed, but quickly smiled cheekily when Jean turned around and caught him. "Come on," she ordered grabbing him by the arm. "Hurry up and finish, we'll see you at dinner," she called back to Sophia as she pulled Scott from the room.

"Yeah yeah," Sophia answered. "And don't worry, I'll give him a chance," she muttered to herself turning back to the full boxes still cluttering up the room. "And then I'll crush that adamantium skeleton of his right into a ball."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Just wanted to say thanks to those of you who reviewed. It gave me just the push I needed to decide to keep on with this story. Hope you enjoyed.


	3. A Common Place

**A Common Place**

It quickly became apparent to all of the school's inhabitants that there were several things inherently different between their new teacher and Jean, Scott, and Orora. First, Sophia did not teach any regular school subjects like the others did. In fact, training and development seemed to be the only thing she focused on. Just a week after her arrival, all of the students at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters found a new class on their schedules, which included weekly group and individual sessions with their new "professor". Second, besides Dr. Grey, Sophia seemed to be the only other mutant who regularly did work in the human world. In the several years she was away from Charles' school, Sophia had attended college, law school, and had become one of the country's leading legal authorities on mutant law. And third, there was something about Sophia that all of their teachers seemed to be keeping from them. The fact that she only went by her first name wasn't so strange, as they were used to it with Logan. But something about the way she handled herself and how the professor, their other teachers, and even some of the older students treated her, led them to believe that she was not some random mutant who had come to the school by chance looking for help.

For her part, Sophia found herself settling into a comfortable routine at the mansion. By day, she spent her time working with students to master their powers, and pouring over recent legislation and case law, and by night she spent hours catching up with Jean, Scott, and Orora, or locked away with the professor. As the days turned into weeks, it began to seem to everyone as though she had been there all along. Everyone but Logan that was.

Ever since their first unpleasant encounter in the foyer the day she first arrived, Logan had remained constantly skeptical of Sophia. He was constantly plagued with thoughts about who she was and her motives for being there, and had made it his personal mission to find out. He had tried unsuccessfully to get information from Jean, Scott, Orora, and even Bobby, but they all seemed reluctant to give him the whole story. In the end, he was forced to resort to his own personal talents of sight and sound, by eavesdropping on conversations and following her around when he could. It just so happened that on one particular night of snooping around, Logan got more than he bargained for.

It was approaching 11:00 and being a school night most of the students were already asleep. Opening her bedroom door slightly, Sophia peered out into the deserted hallway. Satisfied that no one was around to stop her, she silently made her way through the mansion and down to the garage, clad in a black leather jacket over jeans. Engrossed in her mission, she was completely oblivious to the person trailing her from behind.

Stepping into the huge garage, she passed by her sleek black sports car, last year's Christmas gift to herself. Running a hand along the hood, she spoke to the car apologetically, "not tonight baby."

Making her way to the far wall of the garage, where Logan and Scott's motorcycles stood side by side, she moved them out of her way with a motion of her hands and looked thoughtfully at the bare wall. Raising her arms so that her outstretched hands faced the wall, she moved them apart and the wall did the same. A door opened, revealing a storage compartment. Pulling forward whatever was stored there, Sophia soon was standing in front of a black and chrome motorcycle. Grabbing a near by rag, she wiped the bike of the dust that had settled over it, then flung herself onto the seat.

"Did ya miss me?" she asked the bike as though it was going to answer. Smiling happily to herself, she wheeled the bike carefully out of the garage and down the drive before kicking it on safely outside of hearing distance. The engine purred and Sophia's smile deepened as she pulled up her feet and took off.

Logan, who had been the one following her, managed to stifle a gasp at the gorgeous bike he saw Sophia produce from the wall. _Wish I had known that was there. I wouldn't have even bothered with Scott's._

Getting on his own motorcycle, which incidentally had only become his because after several months of stealing it Scott decided to buy himself a new one, Logan pulled out of the garage and followed Sophia. After following her for a few miles, on a route which he was all too familiar with, Logan slowed to a stop and observed Sophia from a distance.

Sophia pulled her bike to a stand still against the side of a brick building in the square of the tiny town that stood just a few miles from the mansion. Pressing her finger against a particular spot on the bike's engine, Sophia shot a current of magnetism into the bike, activating its security system. Satisfied, she turned and entered the building, The Dark Horse Tavern. It was a tavern that Logan had visited often, and he wondered how Sophia came to be there.

Stepping inside, Sophia made her way to the bar and waited for the older woman behind the counter to finish what she was doing and turn to her.

"Well I'll be damned, if it ain't our little Miss Lehnsherr," the woman greeted, giving her as much of a hug as she could over the wide counter. "I hear you're quite a success these days," she continued, "what brings you back to your humble roots?"

"Oh Ma, what do you think," Sophia answered with a sigh.

"I might have guessed as well," Ma Potter, the bar's owner replied. "Well what'll it be then, the usual."

Sophia nodded and the woman pushed a large frosted mug of lager at her. From where he stood watching in the corner, Logan was puzzled. Sophia downed her glass within minutes, and another one was placed in front of her only to be finished off just as quickly.

"Well, its nice to see some things never change," Ma commented lightly at her.

As Sophia began on her third mug, a little more slowly this time, and lit up a cigarette, a large, beefy man came to sit beside her.

"How ya doin doll face," he greeted her with a toothy grin.

In mid sip, she ignored him momentarily, then turned in his direction and blew a large puff of smoke into his face.

"I don't think so pal."

Angered, the man grabbed his beer and got up and went to sit at a booth along the wall.

"Asshole," Sophia muttered to herself under her breath. Finishing her third glass, she picked up the fourth and took it with her as she headed to the pool table in the center of the room. Three men were playing there.

"You want in baby?" one asked her with a sly grin.

"You any good," she asked in response.

"50 bucks says Buck here'll wipe the floor with ya," he answered.

"50 bucks it is," she answered, then walked to the far wall and surveyed the pool sticks. Settling on one she liked, she picked it up and proceeded back to the table. The game, if you could call it that, might have been one of the shortest in pool history. Within minutes, Sophia had every one of the solid balls in the pockets and nailed the eight ball without a second thought. Holding her hand out, palm upward, she grinned cockily as the money was slammed into her hands.

"Call me baby again, and I'll shove this stick so far up your ass you'll be pulling out your nose," she threatened before returning to her seat at the bar.

"Ah Sophia, how many times have I told you to take it easy on the big boys. You know they can't handle a woman like you," Ma scolded.

"Sorry Ma, I couldn't resist."

"Well, I dare say you'll meet your match yet one of these days."

"We'll see," Sophia responded. "Now how about another drink," she continued pushing forward a fourth empty mug. "And why don't you send one to my friend over there lurking in the corner."

"You know Logan?"

"Unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?" Ma repeated with raised eyebrows. "I bet," she chuckled to herself while handing Sophia her next drink and hobbling over to Logan.

"The woman at the bar sends her regards love."

Logan, who had no idea his guise had been broken, took the mug then made his way to sit next to Sophia.

"If you had made an effort to come out earlier, you'd be 25 bucks richer right now," she commented without looking at him.

"Looks like you did just fine on your own," he replied gruffly.

Sophia shrugged.

"What are you doing here anyway," Logan went on.

"What am I doing here? You forget pal, I've had a vested interested in this place a lot longer than you."

"You come here often," he asked skeptically.

"Used to. And you?"

"As of late," he retorted.

Sophia pulled out another cigarette.

"I never knew you smoked," Logan commented at the sight.

"Apparently there's a lot you don't know."

"How bout giving me one of those."

She slid the pack over to him.

"So…," Logan searched for conversation. "You used to come here a lot. Indulge me."

Sophia gave him a look out of the corner of her eye. "Not much to indulge really. Started coming here while I was still in school. You'll soon find it's a favorite spot among the students to come and experiment. Ma and Uncle X, sorry I mean the Professor, sort of have an unspoken agreement that they can come down here for a little taste of rebellion, and she'll keep them safe until someone comes to retrieve them. Scott, Jean, and I were the first. Came down here one night and got ourselves good and drunk. Well, they did anyway, ended up being their first and last visit."

"And you?"

"Well I wasn't old enough to drink, not that that stopped me, and I came back anyway. This is where I learned to play pool. The Professor knew well enough, and since Ma kept me out of harm's way he didn't do much to stop me. Besides, I don't exactly think he was worried about anyone messing with me all things considered."

"Why did you keep coming?"

"I don't know about you, but I don't exactly consider Jean and Scott the most exciting of company. And at the time, there weren't many other students up at school. So I came down here just to have a little fun on my own."

"How did you end up going to school here in the first place?"

"What is this, twenty questions," Sophia shot back, suddenly growing defensive.

Logan shrugged, "just curious."

For a moment Sophia was silent, turning over in her head just how much she wanted reveal to this guy.

"Look, I'm not stupid ya know. I know you've following my every frickin' move trying to figure out what my deal is, alright. So here it is. I'm a Lehnsherr.

"A Lehnsherr?"

"Yeah, you know, like Eric Lehnsherr. Magneto."


End file.
